A Day of Kayaking at Groton

Yesterday was definitely a day full of kayaking.

I started the day, alone, at 5:30 in the morning.  I always check the lighting and atmospheric conditions at this time while we are at the lake. If it is sunny and clear, I don't bother getting up and starting my day. If, however, it is still foggy and misty, I am always eager to get up and get out on the lake.  Today was one of those foggy and misty days.

I spent well over an hour on the lake before breakfast this morning and I shot at least 300 photos in that time.  In addition to getting a lot of beautiful photos, I also got a good workout.  I definitely miss getting part of my workout by paddling a kayak.  I used to live on the Winooski River in Waterbury and kayaking the river was always part of my daily exercise whenever the weather was cooperative.  When we are at the lake house, my exercise goals are no different.  A plus is being able to get great photos this early in the morning and, especially so, when the conditions are interesting for photography...   still, quiet, lake smooth as glass, misty and foggy!

The fog and mist on the lake this early in the morning make for a very eerie atmosphere which makes for interesting yet relatively rare photographs.  Good photography always takes careful planning and a lot of patience.  Dawn and dusk are always great times to find beautiful photographic opportunities.  The atmospheric conditions at dawn and dusk are the most pronounced when the sun is low in the sky which makes for some beautiful, moody photographs.

By the time I arrived back at the house, I had some visibility...
That is our house straight ahead.
This morning was eerily quiet on the lake.  The entire time I was out there, I did not hear a single boat...  nor did I see or hear much wildlife.  It is exceptionally odd that I didn't hear any other boats!  This time of year, there always seem to be some fishermen on the lake.  Well...  I didn't see any signs of fishermen this morning.

I did, however, get some beautiful photos of early morning lake 'scapes.  And, as mentioned above, I managed to get some great exercise.

After I arrived back at the house, I brewed some coffee for everyone in the house (Sheila's parents were visiting us for a couple of days) as they awakened.  I also fried up a pound of bacon for everyone.

This is the view toward the end of the lake with the three
mountain peaks that I have posted before in clear conditions...
and, this was just before the last of the fog burned off...
After breakfast, we all ventured out to the kayaks and the canoe to do some paddling around the lake.  We decided to head south and visit the dam at the end of the lake.  For those unfamiliar with this location, this is the longer direction to wander which could become problematic if the weather goes bad.  The weather forecast called for good weather until sometime in the afternoon so we had no reason to avoid heading to the far end of the lake.  Unfortunately, the actual weather was clearly not aware of this forecast as we would later find out on our return back home.

We made fairly good time in getting to the dam at the south end of the lake.  The wind was at our backs for that entire trip.  We beached the boats and then wandered around the dam and down the rushing river that winds down to Ricker Pond.  This river was raging with some very impressive rapids as well as some dangerous rapids.  There are also some really nice placid shallow pools along the shore to enjoy the water.

After exploring this area south of the dam, we all started to get hungry but realized we didn't bring any food or drinks with us on this excursion.  We then headed back to the boats to start our journey back to the house...  against the wind which had now picked up considerably...  and, as we would soon find out, through some heavy rain and thunder!

At one point in the trip, Sheila managed to get her kayak stuck on a rock just under the surface of the lake.  Here is a short, unedited clip of that amusing incident:




Here is another short, unedited clip of us just after the heavy rain...  rain in a kayak isn't all that much of a concern but I did have two of my good cameras in my kayak and neither was weathersealed nor splash-resistant.  So, keeping the cameras dry was a big concern.  I ended up wrapping them in a towel and then pushing them as far up in front of my feet as a could under the cover of the front deck.  Anyway, here is the unedited clip:




Shortly after I shot that last video clip, we started hearing thunder rumbling in another set of very dark, ominous clouds.  Here is a short, unedtied clip of that:




All in all, it was a great little excursion with Sheila's parents.  What's an excursion without a little excitement like heavy rain and rumbling thunder while you are out on a lake?  At least we weren't in the sailboat with its metal mast to attract lightning!

My trek out on the foggy, misty morning lake was also awesome and provided me with a lot of beautiful photos.

We're looking forward to more memorable activities such as these...




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